Obamarama in full, official swing

Barack Obama’s transition team has posted his “official portrait” on their website, and is quick to point out this is the first time the official portrait “was taken with a digital camera.”

Not coincidentally, Marvel Comics has created a special, commemorative cover for Amazing Spider-Man #583 which features Mr. Obama is also due out today in U.S. comic book stores:

If you’ve watched cable television for any amount of time this past month, you’ve surely seen advertisements for “limited edition” coinage with Obama’s mug and autopenned signature emblazoned on medallions and even JFK half-dollars. And even in my friendly neighborhood grocery store (a legacy Albertson’s, no less…), t-shirts, buttons, and stickers both his face and his signature are for sale, alongside 8X10 glossies of Obama delivering his acceptance speech in Grant Park. Suffice to say, we haven’t seen this sort of political and pop cultural synergy since the fall of 2001, when the stars and stripes were The New Hotness.

Because in these United States, witnessing/living history simply isn’t enough. Nope. We gotta own it.

Tangentially: that’s a damn smart lapel pin you’re sporting in that official portrait, Mr. Obama. Errrr—whoops—Mr. President-Elect, sir. I suppose since it’s a digital photo, it’ll be easy enough to Photoshop that pesky lapel pin out when you change your mind.